


Wrong Constellations

by note_a_flat



Category: Broadchurch, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Crossover, F/M, Fluff, Minor Angst, One-Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-05
Updated: 2016-08-05
Packaged: 2018-07-29 14:53:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7688845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/note_a_flat/pseuds/note_a_flat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alec and Rose enjoy a bonfire on the cliffs with some of their friends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wrong Constellations

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a prompt by timepetalsprompts over on tumblr. This story came into my head a while back in the middle of the night. It is a teeny tiny bit angsty and slightly soppy at the end. 
> 
> I do not own any of the characters in Broadchurch or Doctor Who.

Alec Hardy surveyed the scene before him. The sun had long since set and the sky over the Broadchurch cliffs was covered in stars. There was no moon out, but it was a beautiful night nevertheless. (Not that he would ever admit to even thinking that)

Rose was leaning comfortably against his shoulder, staring into the small bonfire they had built hours ago. He wondered how long it would be until she fell asleep where she was. It had been a long day for her. 

On his other side sat Ellie Miller, cuddled up with both of her sons who had long since passed out. She hadn’t intended to stay as long but the atmosphere was comfortable and relaxed and she just couldn’t get herself to leave. Tom was on holidays anyway and Fred was still young enough to sleep pretty much anywhere so she wasn’t too worried. 

Much to everyone’s surprise, the Latimers and Lucy and Olly had also joined them. They had of course been invited when Rose had decided it would be wonderful to start the holidays with a bonfire on the cliffs, but Alec hadn’t exactly expected them to come. Relations between all of them were still strained after everything that had happened the previous year. Sometimes it felt to him as though Rose and her honest, open friendliness was the only thing that allowed them to sit and work on repairing their relationships. 

He watched as Chloe Latimer cuddled up to her boyfriend Dean. Mark looked at them with a frown on his face but sighed after a moment and pulled on the blankets wrapped around his younger daughter. Beth smiled at him and leaned her head on his shoulder. 

Lucy was staring into the flames. She had been unusually quiet all evening and Olly, who was sat next to her was to Alec’s surprise not on his phone for once. 

They had ceased their story telling a while back, not too long after Tom had fallen asleep. According to Ellie and Beth a bonfire was just not right if there were no stories and so they had taken turns relaying anecdotes, works of fiction and the like.

It had been a very pleasant affair altogether even though there had been a bit of a hiccup when it was Rose’s turn. He still remember vividly when she had told him all about Torchwood, the Doctor and her original universe. He hadn’t believed her then, not at first and he still couldn’t help regretting that. He believed her now, and that was all that mattered (or so she said) but he still knew how much it cost her to reveal anything about her past. 

He had told her many times since they had first met, that she and Ellie were the bravest people he had ever known and when she began telling them about an alien planet where they had dogs with no noses like it was just another children’s story he couldn’t help but stare in awe at the woman he loved. 

Alec was almost certain that no one else had noticed the tears on her face once she had finished, but it broke his heart a little to see them there. It had been a happy story and he wished she would one day be just as happy telling it. 

Rose herself could not have been more glad to have Alec by her side when she decided to tell her friends about the planet Barcelona. Not that she had mentioned it’s name. Or that she’d been there. It had been more difficult to talk about it, than she expected, but if Rose Tyler was to tell a story she wasn’t going to make one up. 

There were plenty of things she had seen that she could talk about and really, when else did she get to talk about her adventures with the Doctor anymore? There was still not a day that went by without her missing him, but now there were things in her life other than her all consuming grief.   
She had found her place in this universe. Finally. 

Alec looked down to find Rose was smiling up at him. He felt an answering smile appear on his face and bent down to press a soft kiss to her forehead. The grumpy DI wasn’t usually much for public displays of affection no matter how small, especially in front of the people who knew the miserable knob he had been before he met Rose. Still, he supposed they would get used to it in time. 

He surveyed the scene again and decided that all that was missing was for his daughter to be here, but that was a relationship that was still in the very first stages of being restored. They were taking things very slowly. 

The night started to get colder and one by one the group of families began to disperse. First the Latimers (baby Lizzy was getting cold) then Lucy and Ollie and finally Ellie who had taken quite some time to get Tom to wake up enough to walk home. She smiled down at Alec and Rose still sitting in front of what was left of their bonfire.  
   
“Don’t stay out too long, you two.”, she admonished gently. 

Alec grumbled something but Rose smiled brightly at her. “We won’t. Night, Ellie!”

“Good night!”

When she left Rose stretched and lay back to look up at the sky. There was a strange look on her face, albeit a slightly familiar one. Alec leaned back himself, propped on an elbow to be able to look at her face. He brushed some hair behind her ear, an unspoken question in his eyes.

“Look at the sky with me.”, she said after a moment and he lay down with her hesitantly. 

For a long while they just lay there, listening to each others breathing, the crackling of the fire and the waves below them. 

“You could never see this many stars in London.”

“I don’t suppose you could, no.”

“What do you see, Alec? When you look at the stars?”

He hesitated. “Little sparks of light in the dark, I suppose. It’s... sort of peaceful when I look at the sky. Why?”

He heard her take a deep breath and felt her grasping for his hand in the dark. Their fingers met and she entwined them tightly. 

“When I look at the sky I see a world full of infinite possibilities. I see stars and planets and nebulas, black holes, entire galaxies... All of time and space. But then I look more closely and I try to identify the constellations, and I can, it’s just... They’re not right. They’re not the same as they were in my universe. Some days, I can pretend that nothing has changed, that I’m still in the same place and that I have just settled after years of travelling like he always said I would... And then I look up at the sky and the stars are all wrong and I don’t know who I am anymore. Because this universe was never meant to have a Rose Tyler.”

He leaned up on his elbow again and hovered his face over hers. Gently he swiped away a single tear that had escaped her eyes with his thumb. 

“I firmly believe that we all end up where we should in the end.”, he said quietly, his voice a low rumble in the dark. “I know you still miss him, miss your original universe and that’s okay. But you’re here now, and whether or not you were born in this world doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be here now. Being with you, here on top of this cliff feels right. Doesn’t it to you?”

His eyes were wide in the dark and she knew it was a serious question, a question he seemed to almost expect her to answer with ‘no’. 

“Yes.”, she said quietly and his teeth glinted white as he grinned. She lifted a hand and buried it in his thick hair. “Yes, it does. More than you could know. I still feel lost sometimes, but you’re right there and I know I’m meant to be here”

“You’re not the only one who was feeling lost, Rose Tyler.”, he whispered.

She pulled him down for a kiss. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” 

He pressed his forehead to hers and closed his eyes. 

Enveloped by Alec beneath stars that were not quite as she was used to Rose Tyler breathed out slowly. It had taken some time to get to this point, but now she was able to accept that the Multiverse had brought her here for a reason and that all was as it should be.


End file.
